Derner Directs Dolphins' Defeat of Louisville

JACKSONVILLE — Jacksonville’s
Morgan Derner is making up for lost time and doing that with a
vengeance.

Derner scored five goals Saturday to help lead the Dolphins
(6-1) to a 20-10 win over Louisville at D.B. Milne Field extending
the team’s home win streak to an even dozen.

The Lake Mary, Fla., attacker, who led the nation’s
freshmen in scoring last year, came back from a knee injury only
three games ago and after being shut out in her debut against
Temple, has poured in eight in the last two games.

Against the Cardinals (2-5) Derner had help from several
teammates including a quartet of sophomores: Ali Hoffman (three
goals), Amanda Hurley, Brittney Orashen and Jen Cosgrove (all of
whom had two).

Junior Rachel Hannon led the way defensively and picked a trio
of ground balls and had three draw controls. Midfielder Chelsea
Watts had two draw controls.

The Dolphins drew first blood when Hoffman scored just 30 second
into the game. After Louisville tied at one, JU ran off nine
consecutive scores putting the Cards in a hole from which they
wouldn’t escape.

In the second half, JU had spurts of three and four consecutive
goals keeping Louisville at bay.
“We really wanted to push the tempo and it’s a big win
for us,’’ Derner said. “The team found me, made
space for me and made me look better than I really
did.’’

She said her knee feels fine with no pain and she continues to
work on getting her wind back.

“She has speed and athleticism,’’ coach Mindy
McCord said. “She’s very strong on the ride because of
her speed and that creates a lot of fast break opportunities we can
utilize.’’

McCord said the key to victory was the team executed five areas
of the game quite well.

“What we know about our team is that if they can put
together the five parts of the game, the draw, the defensive
transition, the pack transition, the defensive settled and the
attack settled – you can win with maybe playing three of
them, but if you play five of them well you have a shot at
dominating. The players put all five of those areas into their
hands and executed well.’’